t warriors proceeded smoothly towards the jujube
tree called Visala and took up their quarters there. Then all those
magnanimous men having reached the place of Narayana, continued to live
there, bereft of all sorrow, at beholding Kuvera's favourite lake,
frequented by gods and Siddhas. And viewing that lake, those foremost of
men, the sons of Pandu traversed that place, renouncing all grief even as
immaculate Brahmana rishis (do) on attaining a habitation in the Nandana
gardens. Then all those warriors having in due course happily lived at
Badari for one month, proceeded towards the realm of Suvahu, king of the
Kiratas, by following the same track by which they had come. And crossing
the difficult Himalayan regions, and the countries of China, Tukhara,
Darada and all the climes of Kulinda, rich in heaps of jewels, those
warlike men reached the capital of Suvahu. And hearing that those sons
and grandsons of kings had all reached his kingdom, Suvahu, elated with
joy, advanced (to meet them). Then the best of the Kurus welcomed him
also. And meeting king Suvahu, and being joined by all their charioteers
with Visoka at their head and by their attendants, Indrasena and others,
and also by the superintendents and servants of the kitchen, they stayed
there comfortably for one night. Then taking all the chariots and
chariot-men and dismissing Ghatotkacha together with his followers, they
next repaired to the monarch of mountains in the vicinity of the Yamuna.
In the midst of the mountain abounding in waterfalls and having grey and
orange-coloured slopes and summits covered with a sheet of snow, those
warlike men having then found the great forest of Visakhayupa like unto
the forest of Chitraratha and inhabited by wild boars and various kinds
of deer and birds, made it their home. Addicted to hunting as their chief
occupation, the sons of Pritha peacefully dwelt in that forest for one
year. There in a cavern of the mountain, Vrikodara, with a heart
afflicted with distraction and grief, came across a snake of huge
strength distressed with hunger and looking fierce like death itself. At
this crisis Yudhishthira, the best of pious men, became the protector of
Vrikodara and he, of infinite puissance, extricated Bhima whose whole
body had been fast gripped by the snake with its folds. And the twelfth
year of their sojourn in forests having arrived, those scions of the race
of Kuru, blazing in effulgence, and engaged in asceticism, alwa